Short time scientific missions

Research area: Design and modelling of adaptive autonomous vehicle's control system

Short description of the research area: As modern active safety systems in the last decade increased traffic safety noticeably, the common interest of the general public in the field of autonomous vehicles keeps growing. Respectively, the future of autonomous vehicles, i.e., the realization of the envisaged benefits, such as increased driving safety or improved transportation efficiency and public acceptance, will depend on their ability to safely move in real road networks and various traffic scenarios. It is important to note that two of the most important keys to the autonomy are realised through trajectory planning and control algorithms. Due to these reasons, the aim of the research is to develop an adaptive autonomous vehicle control algorithm, which will ensure a safe and reliable real-time trajectory following possibility for an autonomous ground vehicle, while the vehicle is moving in different traffic scenarios.

Scientific supervisor: Dr.sc.ing., Professor Alexander Grakovski

Name, Surname: Maria Marczewska-Rytko

Organisation: Maria Curie-Skłodowska University (Lublin, Poland), Faculty of Political Science

Grant: COST Action 15221

Stay period: from 27.05.2019 to 31.05.2019

Research area: direct democracy, populism, religion and politics, political and social movements, new social movements.

Short description of the research area: Controlled drug release systems-controlled release systems allow the active substance to oscillate at regional or systematic predetermined rates and specific time intervals. The benefits of controlled drug release are: 1) continuous protection of the drug level at the therapeutic rate, 2) reduction of harmful effects due to targeting, 3) reduction of the amount of drugs needed.

Short description of the research area: In this research area we are interested in the safety of urban railway transport. The purposes of this study are to analysis and improve the tram safety in the city of Constantine in Algeria recently benefited of this means of transport.

Scientific supervisor: Prof., Dr.sc.ing. I.Yatskiv.

Name, Surname: Nika Tikanashvili

Organisation: Georgian Aviation University

Grant: "Latvian State Fellowships For Research 2017" Supported By The Latvian State Education Development Agency

Stay period: from 10.10.2017 to 09.02.2018

Research area: Maintenance of Air Navigation Systems

Short description of the research area: Research and development of mathematical model for estimation of accuracy of radionavigation systems of aircraft position in the terminal area. Study of modern problems of existing radionavigation systems and the ways for their determination; investigation of the optimal arrangement of radionavigation aids at the airports with runways less than 2km.

Scientific supervisor: Professor, Dr.hab.sc.ing. Igor Kabashkin.

Name, Surname: Dr. Giannis Adamos

Organisation: University of Thessaly, Traffic, Transportation and Logistics Laboratory

Grant: ALLIANCE project (Grant agreement no.: 692426)

Stay period: from 17.09.2017 to 23.09.2017

Research area: Passenger transport accessibility at interchanges

Short description of the research area: Seamless intermodal transport is an appealing concept that enables individuals to travel to their destination in the most efficient, comfortable, safe and quick way. Transport interchanges can support this concept, since they link movements between different transportation modes and routes. The objectives of this research are to assess accessibility at interchanges and suggest ways to improve it, study current information provision systems, indicate the level of coordination between different transportation modes and the relevant involved stakeholders, and lastly, investigate the design of interchanges and recommend sustainable solutions that can make them more functional and aesthetically pleasant.

Scientific supervisor: Prof., Dr.sc.ing. I.Yatskiv

Name, Surname: Ioannis Karakikes

Organisation: University of Thessaly

Grant: COST TU1305

Stay period: from 17.09.2017 to 23.09.2017

Research area: Simulation and impact assessment of innovative systems for urban freight distribution

Short description of the research area: This visit's research focus lies on ultra-urbanized smart cities that combine dense passenger and freight travel systems. Throught this scientific mission the PhD cand. will become familiar with factors that determine travel behavior, review global ICT platforms and examine the connection between social media and urban freight distribution with the use of simulation tools.

Scientific supervisor: Dr.sc.ing. Mihails Savrasovs

Name, Surname: Gani Askarov

Organisation: Al-Farabi Kazakh National University

Grant: Al-Farabi Kazakh National University

Stay period: from 01.09.2017 to 25.11.2017

Research area: Transport logistics

Short description of the research area: The purpose of this study is to develop a methodology for organizing freight road transport based on logistics principles to improve the efficiency and reliability of the transportation process in the Republic of Kazakhstan.

Scientific supervisor: Dr.hab.sc.ing. Jurijs Tolujevs

Name, Surname: Alfonso Bahillo

Organisation: DeustoTech – University of Deusto

Grant: José Castillejo for young researchers (Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport)

Stay period: from 01.09.2016 to 01.12.2016

Research area: Smart mobility

Short description of the research area: In this research, we place the increasing penetration of digital technologies devices (smart phones, smart watches, tablets, etc.) within the broader context of their use in public spaces, not only open spaces such as parks, gardens or plazas but also closed such as train stations, museums, hospitals or city-malls. The consequences of this interweaving, which are growing at a rapid pace, are not yet fully investigated. This fact accompanied by their rapid development and increasing application possibilities, challenges urban planners, social scientists and ICT experts.

The research area encompass analysis and modelling of Park and Ride system at macro/city level. This consist of application of travel demand modelling tools (PTV VISUM) in order to estimate potential operation of proposed Park and Ride sites and identification of optimal Park and Ride locations.

Research area: insurance of public transportation services for people with mobility impairments

Short description of the research area: analyzing the accessibility of public transport and integration of special services for people with mobility impairments into the existing public transport system.

Short description of the research area: The research during the stay has been focused on the calibration and simulation of transport models in Madrid and Riga.

The case study in Madrid corresponds to a section of the M-30 ring motorway which is normally used by buses coming from North Spain and accessing to the main bus station in Madrid. In this section, a variable speed limit system have been put into operation in last month.

This research tries to find how this ITS influence the traffic performance and how this could affect the assignment in the macro model. The first step carried out during this STSM has been to program a script which simulates the effects of VSL in an already existing traffic micro model (VISSIM).

After that, we have studied how to link the VISSIM outputs with the VISUM macro model. Speed-Intensity curves have been analysed in order to obtain data to adjust the volume-delay functions (VDF) in VISUM, which will influence in the assignment model.

Procedures to calibrate both models have been discussed, analysing also literature provided by TTI colleagues.

In the framework of these case studies simulations, EnViVer software was also used in order to analyses VISSIM output and provide information about emissions and air quality.